London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

A top barrister who evaded paying £600,000 in tax was jailed for three and a half years today.

Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who collected millions of pounds in fees from clients but didn’t pay the VAT, put the money towards a £1 million house in Virginia Water and a £490,000 home in Somerset.

Pershad, 45, from Hammersmith, who built his reputation on complex financial cases, avoided paying VAT between 1999 and 2011. He claimed he did not understand the paperwork and thought his chambers were paying the tax bills.

He was convicted of tax evasion by a jury at Blackfriars crown court, where Judge Aidan Marron QC told him: “You have brought disgrace on yourself.”

Pershad was a rising star at 39 Essex Street chambers in central London, headed by Robert Jay, QC, the lead counsel to the Leveson inquiry into press standards.

For more than 12 years he collected high fees from clients but never filed a tax return. He denied cheating the public revenue but was convicted after a nine-day trial.

Pershad later said that he intends to appeal his conviction and clear his name.

In a statement released through his lawyers, he said: "I have not acted dishonestly in relation to the payment of VAT and I will be seeking to have my conviction overturned in the Court of Appeal.

"There have been a number of inaccurate and misleading comments made publicly since my conviction. I will seek to correct them at the appropriate time.

"I am very grateful to all the many people that have stood by me at what has been a deeply distressing time - most of all for my family.

"I am not a dishonest man. I have never sought to defraud or cheat anyone. I will continue to fight to clear my name."